A Penn State student arrested during a protest against a Proud Boys event in October is facing criminal charges and possible expulsion just weeks ahead of his scheduled graduation.
Bram Woolley of Allentown heads to criminal court and is poised to have his academic fate decided next week by the university. Woolley is scheduled to graduate on Dec. 17.
The potential disciplinary action by the university against a student protesting extremist rhetoric has sparked outrage among students and faculty. On Monday, the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity is scheduled to hold a rally in show of support for Woolley.
“By engaging in political repression of Bram, Penn State Police and Administration are sending a very clear message that they wish for Penn State to remain a place hostile to anti-racism while, at the same time, welcoming of white supremacists and their hateful ideology,” the SCDS said in a statement to PennLive.
The Oct. 24 Proud Boys event, featuring the extremist group’s co-founder, Gavin McInnes, was organized by the student group Uncensored America and initially received approval from Penn State officials, even as it condemned it. But the event was canceled shortly before its start amid a threat of violence.
A number of faculty members have voiced concern over the optics cast by the possible action against the sole student arrested during the clash between Proud Boys supporters and protestors, even, as they say, instigators from the Proud Boys side of the melee walked freely away.
“He was exercising his First Amendment rights to protest against neo-Nazis and the university is likely to take action against him that will prevent him from graduating?” said Gary King, a professor of biobehavioral health, who stood a few feet away from Woolley at the protest.
One of Woolley’s professors had a similar reaction.
“Bram was engaged in a free speech event,” said Joshua Inwood, a professor of geography. “He was arrested but is the punishment of suspension or expulsion fitting the crime? Is it necessary to kick him out of the university when he’s so close to being done and graduating anyway?”
Both professors said the possible academic punishment does not fit the offense.
“This is really a travesty wherein we have a very good student who is about to graduate within the next two weeks who was peacefully protesting, not resisting, not throwing any rocks, not inciting anyone to do anything violent,” King said.
“He did not resist arrest. We contrast that with what happened with regard to the Proud Boys individuals who assaulted the crowd with an irritant. They have not been prosecuted.”
Penn State Police and Public Safety has investigated the incident but has not arrested anyone else.
In October police said in a statement they were investigating the use of pepper spray on the crowd by unidentified individuals, according to StateCollege.com. The outlet noted that videos showing a person entering the crowd and discharging a spray had surfaced online in the aftermath of the incident, but that police did not appear to pursue the person.
“There’s clear video evidence showing what they were doing and law enforcement officers on the scene did not take appropriate action to arrest them or to even stop them from doing what they were doing,” King said. “You contrast that to what is happening with Bram who was protesting against these individuals as were hundreds of other Penn State students. I think this puts the university in a very bad light for this to happen - to prosecute one of its own that has matriculated through the institution and done quite well and is about to graduate in a couple of weeks.”
In addition to academic disciplinary action, Wooley, 23, was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to disperse upon official order and criminal trespassing.
Woolley allegedly ignored multiple orders from police officers to leave the Thomas Building area that night, StateCollege.com reported. Local police in riot gear and State Police on horseback began to secure the building’s perimeter after a confrontation in the crowd erupted.
Police say Woolley allegedly slipped behind the mounted troopers and in front of the building doors, according to StateCollege.com. The criminal complaint indicated at least four uniformed officers approached Woolley and told him approximately 10 times to move before he was arrested and removed from the area.
Responding to a request for comment from PennLive, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers explained that the action so far taken in the Woolley case adheres to university protocol.
“If a student is found in violation of the Student Code of Conduct, an individualized action plan from the Office of Student Accountability and Conflict Response is assigned, which includes administrative sanctions and educational, reflective and/or restorative outcomes,” Powers wrote in an email.
“Student conduct matters and their resolutions are private, as they are part of a student’s educational record and subject to protections under FERPA. In addition, the student conduct process is separate and distinct from any criminal proceedings that may take place.”
FERPA refers to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law that governs the access to a student’s educational information and records by public entities such as potential employers and publicly funded educational institutions.
Inwood, like King, has a hard time reconciling the idea that Woolley faces not only academic disciplinary action but criminal charges, while the instigators who entered the crowd to spray irritants have not.
“Whoever perpetuated and started to kick off the violent response, the Proud Boy or racists who started spraying maze and bear spray, there’s been precious little attention drawn to the fact that those folks have not been identified or arrested,” Inwood said. “Really not much has been said about them at all. There are picture images of them walking away past police officers ...being able to walk away from that situation and not be identified or not be arrested or questioned at all. That’s an issue for this community. These folks are still presumably in our community walking around. They could be students for all I know. We have no idea.”
Woolley did not respond to a request for comment.
Inwood said he spoke to Woolley this week and that he was working on his statement to the Office of Student Accountability and Conflict Response, which is due Monday. He also told Inwood that he has a preliminary court hearing on the criminal charges on Wednesday.
Inwood worries that the Woolley matter will have a chilling effect on free speech within the campus community, which recently has wrestled with the fallout of a decision by Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi to cancel plans for a center dedicated to promoting diversity and equity on campus.
“Penn State Police and Administration, regardless of their identities, have taken actions that empower white supremacy on campus while punishing and therefore weakening anti-racism on campus,” the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity said to PennLive in a written statement. “.These are actions that put a target on the backs of marginalized people. We cannot stand for a campus climate like this, where white supremacist violence goes unchecked while those who stand up to it are punished, criminalized, and expelled. This is a recipe for more violence against and exclusion of marginalized people and anti-racist activists on campus.”
This story was updated to include comment from the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity.
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